


Home for Christmas

by bansheequeen (queenbanshee), xtremeroswellian



Series: Moving Targets [7]
Category: Smallville
Genre: Arbitrary Christmas rules, Baking, Bonding, Christmas, Christmas Cookies, F/M, Families of Choice, Fluff, Friendship, Insomnia, JLA - Freeform, Lois is a Chlollie shipper, Protective Mia Dearden, Santa Claus is Real, Sweet, Teasing, celebration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:41:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24224497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenbanshee/pseuds/bansheequeen, https://archiveofourown.org/users/xtremeroswellian/pseuds/xtremeroswellian
Summary: It's Christmas in Star City and although there are a lot of things left to solve, the team decides to set their problems and issues aside in order to celebrate the holiday that so few of them had reason to celebrate before.
Relationships: Chloe Sullivan & Arthur Curry & Oliver Queen & Bart Allen & Dinah Lance & Victor Stone, Chloe Sullivan & J'onn J'onzz, Chloe Sullivan & Lois Lane, Lois Lane & Oliver Queen, Oliver Queen & Mia Dearden, Oliver Queen/Chloe Sullivan
Series: Moving Targets [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1748179
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

**Star City HQ -- December 24, 2010**

Chloe had been finishing wrapping the last Christmas presents when she heard a knock on the door, she knew most everyone was out, doing last minute shopping or grocery shopping, but she had decided to stay behind. She wanted some alone time and then there was the fact that she and Ollie not being in the same group always made things less awkward for everyone.

She got up from the floor, where she had been sitting in her bedroom and made her way down the stairs, frowning a little, she couldn't imagine who it could be, so she was prepared to activate the panic button in her cell phone if needed, but when she checked the monitor and saw who was standing outside, she relaxed and a soft smile appeared on her lips. She pressed her thumb against the pad then opened the door, her smile widening when her eyes fell on the guest, "J'onn, you're here earlier than I expected."

"My flight got in sooner than expected," he teased with a soft smile.

With a smile, she shook her head and stepped back, making room for him to come inside, "if only all airlines could be as efficient as Air Martian," she teased back.

He stepped into the house, glancing around and setting his suitcase on the floor. "Merry Christmas, Chloe."

"Merry Christmas to you too," she told him, "I will show you to your room, you will be sharing with Vic, we figured he'd be less annoying than Bart or AC."

"Ah, yes, Victor. The one who calls me 'Martian.'" He smiled in amusement.

"Call him Exterminator, he hates it," Chloe told him, starting upstairs, "besides, it's better than sharing a room with Carter, isn't it?"

J'onn raised an eyebrow. "How did you manage to convince Carter Hall to come here for Christmas?"

"Courtney," Chloe admitted as she opened the bedroom door, "she did all the work, and somehow, Carter listened."

He smiled at that, nodding. "I see."

"The others should be back soon," she told him, leaning against the door frame as J'onn settled his things, "they went out for last minute shopping."

"And you were done early," he surmised with warmth in his smile as he looked back at her.

"I shop online a lot," she admitted, shrugging a little.

He nodded in understanding. "How are you feeling, Chloe?" he asked, nodding toward her shoulder.

"A lot better," she told him, nodding, "I'm still supposed to be wearing the sling, but I was wrapping presents," she admitted, making a face then smiling sheepishly.

J'onn smiled at the admission. "I'd say I was surprised, but I'm not fond of lying."

"Good to know," she told him then smiled a little more, "not like there is much of a point in lying to you."

He nodded in acknowledgment. "How are the others doing?"

Chloe considered him for a moment then nodded a little, "doing well," she said sincerely and aside from her relationship, or lack thereof, with Oliver, who could barely stand to look at her since their fight in DC, it was the truth. "We've just been busy getting done with all the work we can do so we can all try and have a normal Christmas tomorrow."

"I expect that will be a first for many of us," he admitted, studying her intently.

"What makes it all the more important," she said quietly, watching him back. What she knew about J'onn's history was limited, but she knew he was the only man who survived in Mars after the war and among the dead were his wife and kids and the team, like for many of them, was the closest thing he had to a family unit.

He nodded slightly once more. "Is there anything you'd like to talk about, Chloe?" He searched her eyes.

At that, she blinked and looked away, then shook her head, "no, not really."

J'onn reached out and rested his hand lightly on her arm. "If you change your mind, I always have time for you. I hope you know that."

"Thank you," she said quietly then looked back at him, pursing her lips together then taking a deep breath, it wasn't time for that. It wasn't time for her to feel sorry for herself, it was time to make sure things went as smoothly as possible because despite their issues, this wasn't about them and she knew they both knew as much.

* * *

**Star City HQ--November 26, 2010**

They arrived at the Star City Airport on one of the busiest days of the year--the day after Thanksgiving. People were either flying in late for the holiday or leaving after it, and by the time they arrived back at headquarters, Oliver was just _tired_. He and Chloe had barely spoken on the plane ride and as much as he'd felt like things had gone well for most of the D.C. trip, their conversation the night before had left his mood dark, which was how it remained. He didn't look at her even as he set her suitcase just inside her bedroom door, didn't say a word to her before he turned and headed down the hall to his own room.

Within five minutes, he'd changed into a tank top and a pair of sweatpants and headed back down the stairs to the training room, which was, thankfully, empty.

He wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone, or deal with any of the team. He just wanted to be alone.

Mia had been at the heated pool when she heard someone walking around the house, when she pushed herself up on the edge of it and saw Oliver's blond hair, her eyes widened and within moments, she had dried herself and pulled a sundress on top of her swimsuit and made her way inside, "Oliver?" she called, looking around. Then she heard the sound of someone using the punching bags and her eyes immediately narrowed toward the top of the stairs, where Chloe's room was and where she had just heard a door closing.

She followed the first sound into the training room, "you're back, and you didn't even bother telling us you were coming?"

He paused at the sound of her voice, grabbing onto the bag and stilling it but not turning to look at her. "It was supposed to be a surprise," he said with a slight shrug.

"Yeah, it is," she stepped further into the room, "what happened? Did you find Lex?"

"Not even close. Shocking, huh?"

Mia gave him a look, "what did _Chloe_ do now?" She asked, hands on her hips and a less than impressed look on her face.

He paused at that, then turned to glance at her, shaking his head. "Nothing."

"Yeah, right," Mia said, giving him a look.

Oliver blew out a breath. "I just don't know when to back off," he admitted, looking back at the bag once more.

"Is that what _she_ said?"

He was quiet for a moment, then shrugged. "It's not a big deal, Mia." He turned to glance at her again. "Sorry I wasn't here yesterday for Thanksgiving. How'd it go?"

"Okay." She said with a shrug, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Are you mad because I wasn't here?" he asked quietly.

Mia made a face and shook her head, " _no_ ,"

Oliver offered her a small smile. "Good." He really didn't need the _other_ female in his life pissed at him, too. "Glad to be on break?"

"It doesn't really count as a break if I have to be back on Monday," she pointed out, "ask me after finals."

He grinned at her. "I hear AC's been helping you study."

"I don't know that help is the best word for it," Mia replied, and Oliver finally got a smirk out of her.

Oliver chuckled. "Yeah, well. I think I'll be around for awhile. Not that I'll be much more help than AC."

She paused for a moment and shrugged a shoulder nonchalantly, looking away and raising an eyebrow then glancing at him out of the corner of her eyes, "how long is awhile?"

"Hopefully til January," he said softly. "But with Lex out there..."

"Right," she straightened up, "I don't really need help anyway."

"Mia--"

"What? I don't. It's not like school is hard. Besides, Dinah is helping me practice."

Oliver bit his lip. "Right," he said softly.

Mia looked down and noticed the water on the floor, yeah, making a mess of the training room was really going to convince Oliver to want to be anywhere near her, "I'm making a mess, I better go shower."

"It's just water," he said with a small smile. "Do you think you'd want to grab some dinner later? Just the two of us? Catch up?"

She paused at that, "well, depends where you wanna go."

"Doesn't matter to me. You pick," he told her.

Pursing her lips together, she considered him for a moment then squinted, "that Italian place we went to when we first got to Star City?"

Oliver smiled. "Sounds good to me."

Her face brightened, just a little, "okay, I'm gonna go... shower and stuff."

"All right, just let me know when you're ready and we'll go."

"Okay," she rushed out of the room and toward the stairs and her own bedroom to get ready.

He smiled as she headed away, amused by the excitement she was exhibiting even though she was trying not to show it.

* * *

**Star City HQ -- December 24, 2010**

"Seriously?" Mia asked as she dragged a massive bag inside the living room, "you sure you got everything? I mean, the store still had the shelving in place. You could probably talk them into letting you buy that too..."

Oliver flashed her a grin as he followed her, carrying two more bags the same size as the one she was dragging. "Well, it _was_ nice shelving..."

"Shopaholic," she accused, mock narrowing her eyes, "I'm so not carrying this upstairs, by the way, you'll have to find a place to wrap them down here."

"Spoilsport," he teased. "You realize you're going to have to help me wrap all this right?"

Mia groaned, "why can't we make Bart wrap everything? It will take him five seconds..."

"Because some of it's for Bart and it's cheating. You have to wrap the stuff you buy. Isn't that like some kind of rule or something?"

She shrugged a shoulder and dragged the bag toward the training room, where they'd have enough space to wrap everything, "no idea." It wasn't like she had really had a normal Christmas since she was about five.

"Yeah, me either," he admitted. "But it sounds like it should be a rule."

"I think it should be a rule that we just pay someone at the store to wrap everything up before we even walk out the door with it," she suggested, smirking once she set the bag down completely in the middle of the room.

"Where's the fun in _that_?" Oliver answered with a smirk of his own.

"Your idea of fun is seriously messed up," she pointed out.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." He grinned, sitting down in the middle of the floor and beginning to take things out of the bags.

Mia joined him and frowned a little as she heard two voices, one she knew was Chloe's, but the other, she didn't recognize, "who's here?"

He paused, cocking his head and listening for a moment, a small smile touching his lips. "J'onn Jones," he told her.

"Oh," her eyes widened a little, "the martian?" She asked in a whisper.

Oliver smiled. "That's him," he said with a slight nod. "Good thing we picked up Oreos at the store."

"That is _so_ weird," she said quietly, glancing in the direction the voices were coming from, "Oreos aren't even real cookies, someone should tell him that."

He cocked an eyebrow. "You don't like oreos?"

"They are okay," she said with a shrug, "but any kind of chocolate chip cookies are better."

Oliver grinned. "Especially if they're fresh out of the oven."

"Well yeah," she smirked, cutting a piece of wrapping paper, "but even the boxed stuff."

He watched her for a moment. "We should make cookies later."

Mia looked at him for a moment then nodded, "yeah, reward ourselves for wrapping all of this."

"Exactly." He smiled. "Besides, we have to have something to leave out for Santa."

She rolled her eyes and smirked at that, "hate to have to be the one to tell you, but I think it's time you know the truth..."

"Actually, he's real," he told her with vague amusement.

Mia grinned and stole the tape from Oliver as she started to wrap one of the boxes, "if that's what you wanna believe in."

He chuckled as she took the tape from him. "No, I'm serious. He really exists."

"What, did you two meet or something?"

He shook his head. "No, not me. But uh...Chloe and Clark met him a few years ago."

Mia rolled her eyes and shook her head, "yeah, _right_."

"Seriously," he told her. "There was apparently this huge amount of presents to be delivered and the drivers were on strike that year. Santa showed up and helped deliver all of them," he said with a shrug.

"Look," Mia said, giving him a look, "it's hard enough to believe there is a _Martian_ upstairs, you're on your own on the Santa thing."

A smile quirked his lips and he shrugged again. "You could just take my word for it."

"I _could_ ," she smirked.

He smirked back at her. "You haven't started asking for hints."

"What's the point?" Mia asked with a shrug, " are you gonna tell me?"

"No," he admitted. "But if you ask nicely I might let you open one." He grinned.

Her eyes widened a little, "there's more than one?"

Oliver's eyes softened a little at the question. "Quite a few more than one."

"Oh," she paused for a moment then grinned at him, "can I open one, then?"

He grinned. "You bet." He rose to his feet. "I'll be right back." He headed for the door.

"Okay," she watched him go, then turned back to the present she was wrapping and finished it up, unable to stop the grin that was on her face now, so maybe they weren't exactly a normal bunch, but she'd take them over her 'real family' any day.


	2. Chapter 2

**Star City HQ -- November 26, 2010**

Mia showered, dried her hair and changed into a red blouse and pair of comfortable jeans within fifteen minutes. They didn't call her Speedy for nothing. As she headed toward the stairs, she paused at the open door to Chloe's room, spotting the blond tucking her clothes from her suitcase neatly into her closet. She folded her arms across her chest, leaning in the doorway and waiting for Chloe to notice her.

Chloe paused when she felt eyes on her, she fully expected them to be Oliver's but was surprised to see Mia standing there instead. She raised her eyebrows a little at the younger girl's less than friendly posture, "Mia, hi."

"What did you do this time?" she asked flatly.

Blinking, Chloe turned fully to face her, "excuse me?"

" _What_ did _you_ do _this_ time?" Mia repeated, this time much slower, like she was talking to a small child.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Chloe said tightly, but politely, even if she knew Mia was probably referring to Oliver's less than friendly mood.

She rolled her eyes. "To _Oliver_ ," she said with emphasis, her eyes narrowing at the older woman. "What did you do to him _this_ time?"

Chloe took a deep breath and stepped closer, "I get that you're trying to be protective of him," she said calmly, "but it will be better for _everyone_ if you stay out of what happens between Oliver and I."

Mia glared at her. "And maybe it would be better for _everyone_ if you'd stop screwing with his mind," she snapped.

"Trust me, Mia, the last thing I want is to hurt him," Chloe said, keeping her voice even and doing her best not to let the teenager get to her.

"Then stop doing it," she said harshly. "Just leave him alone."

Chloe ignored the tightness of her chest and willed herself to stay calm, "you don't like me, I get that," she paused, "you think I'm going out of my way to make him miserable, but _that_ isn't the truth." She took another step forward and lowered her voice, "I care about Oliver, _a lot_ , and regardless of what you _choose_ to believe, the truth is I would never do anything if I didn't think it was the best for him."

Mia scowled. "You don't know _anything_ about me or what I believe in. I was the one who told him to give you another chance, after you decided you weren't coming here with us the first time. I told him he should call you, that maybe you had changed your mind. He would have anyway, but I really thought you would have made the right choice. And then when he told you to come here after your alien friend left you? I was against it." She wrapped her arms tighter around herself. "But Ollie asked me to be nice to you. But you blew it _again_. Maybe you should stop assuming you know what's best for everyone else and figure out what your own problem is." Without waiting for a response, she turned and headed for the stairs.

It took a deep breath for Chloe to stop herself from responding to the accusations and just let Mia go. She stepped forward again, except this time it was just to close the door. Letting her breath out slowly, she rubbed her hands over her face. All she really wanted to do was to pack her things back up and leave, but the small, logical portion of her brain knew that would just make things worse. Oliver would hate himself more and blame himself for screwing things up and that was the opposite of what she wanted.

So she would stay and make an effort to keep her distance from Oliver and Mia both to make things easier on everyone, and if she had to put up with a few glares from the teenager every now and then, she could handle it. At least she knew Mia was only trying to look out for her guardian.

* * *

**Star City HQ -- December 24, 2010**

Oliver headed up the stairs, pausing momentarily as he caught sight of J'onn and Chloe heading out of Victor's room. "Hey, J'onn." He smiled, holding his hand out for the other man to shake.

"Oliver," J'onn smiled, shaking the other man's hand, "good to see you."

He nodded. "Likewise. Glad you could make it."

"Wouldn't want to miss out on another Earth tradition," he commented, nodding too, "thank you for having me."

Chloe took a step forward and smiled slightly, "I was just showing J'onn where he'll be staying."

Oliver nodded again, smiling faintly but not meeting her eyes. He looked at J'onn again. "I promised Mia she could open one of her presents tonight, and we're in the middle of a marathon gift-wrapping session. Help yourself to anything in the kitchen and make yourself at home." He patted J'onn's arm and moved past them without another word.

She glanced at him over her shoulder then looked back at J'onn. That was pretty much how all of their interactions went in the past month. Oliver kept himself away from everyone with the exception of Mia and Chloe herself hadn't been going out of the way to interact with anyone, she spent most of her time between the computer room and her own room and sometimes one of the others would come in and hang out with her, mostly Bart and sometimes Victor.

"C'mon," she told J'onn, her voice quieter than before, "I'll show you the rest of the house."

* * *

**Star City HQ -- November 26, 2010**

"Dude," Bart said, shaking his head as he walked into the house, "I so beat you. You can't swim faster than me."

"The hell I can't," AC retorted, rolling his eyes.

"How do you explain me beating you to the beach then?" Bart smirked.

"You didn't beat me. We got there at the exact same time."

Bart rolled his eyes, "I was standing there for _ages_ before you showed up," he paused when he saw Mia coming down the stairs, dressed up and looking pissed, "hey, gorgeous, what's going on?"

"The blond terror has returned," she responded, moving past him and toward the training room.

"But Dinah never went anywhere," he said, confused and watched as she left then looked over at AC.

AC frowned and started to reply when he caught sight of the door at the top of the stairs closing. "Chloe and Oliver are back?" 

Bart looked up too and frowned, "are they?"

"Unless someone else is in Chloe's room." He shrugged.

"We should go check it out," Bart suggested, not even waiting for a response before starting upstairs.

AC nodded a little, glancing toward the training room and then following Bart up the steps.

Bart paused outside the door and knocked on it, "Chloe?"

Chloe stilled, sighing deeply as quietly as possible, "come in," she called from where she stood, back by her suitcase in front of the closet.

AC followed Bart into the room and he smiled at her. "Hey, welcome back, Watchtower." His eyes were bright.

"Hey," she smiled softly at the two of them, "thank you."

Bart smiled back, "when did you guys get in?" he asked.

"About... half an hour ago," she admitted, "well, that was when we finally managed to make our way out of the airport, that place was packed."

AC nodded a little. "How was DC?" he asked curiously, leaning against the doorframe.

"It was good. A lot colder than this, but it was nice," she told them, moving to sit down on the edge of her bed, "how have things been here?"

"Fortunately slow." He smiled. "Quiet. Might just be a holiday thing, but we'll see."

"And how did Thanksgiving go?"

"Man, we had _so_ much food, Dinah found this place that sold the whole package, so we just ordered it," Bart told her. "It was awesome."

Chloe smiled softly and nodded, "that sounds nice."

"Did uh--did you and Ollie have a nice dinner at least?" AC queried, raising his eyebrows.

She pursed her lips together for a second, "well, we did a lot of sight-seeing yesterday so when we got back to the hotel, I kinda just went to bed," she told them, trying for a smile.

"Oh." He nodded a little, glancing at her arm. "How's the arm doing anyway?"

"Better," she lifted it slightly but didn't move it much, "I still have to wear the sling for another six weeks or so, but it's pretty much healed."

Bart smirked, "how come you're not wearing it now?"

AC smiled and shook his head a little. "She's a big girl, Bart. I'm sure she has her reasons." He nudged Bart lightly.

"I was just unpacking," she smiled and raised her eyebrows at Bart, "but thank you for your concern."

He shrugged, "need some help with that?"

"I got it, thank you," she assured him.

"Well, you got back just in time for dinner. Dinah's making burgers and fries if you're hungry." AC smiled at her. "Probably about an hour from now."

"Sounds good," she told him, "that should give me enough time to finish up here."

"Great. We'll see you then. Good to have you back." AC smiled and headed out the door.

"Yell if you need anything," Bart offered, smiling too and following AC.

"Thanks," she told them, watching as they walked out then turning back toward the suitcase.

* * *

**Star City HQ, December 24, 2010**

AC sat on the kitchen counter, drinking a bottle of water and watching Dinah work on dinner. "Smells good," he told her.

Dinah smirked at him over her shoulder, "someone should be able to cook in this house."

"Ollie can cook. He just...doesn't." He shrugged.

"Yeah, I know," she told him, turning back to the pot and stirring, "that isn't much help."

He shrugged again. "So Den Momma to the rescue." He grinned.

Dinah rolled her eyes, "I will have to hurt you and Bart for that."

"You haven't yet," he pointed out, taking another drink. "I think you kinda like it."

"Oh, I love it," she said sarcastically, "about as much as I enjoy the palpable tension whenever Chloe and Oliver are in the same room."

That made him cringe. "Yeah, that's getting old," he admitted, sighing softly.

Dinah shook her head, "tomorrow will be fun, I'm sure."

"Think it's too late to skip out and book a cruise instead?"

She looked at him again and leaned back against the counter, "yes, and we have to stay to make sure they don't kill each other anyway."

"I don't think we have to worry about that, considering the second one of them enters a room the other's in, one of them leaves." AC rubbed the back of his neck, looking down at the pot of vegetable soup she was making.

Making a face, she nodded, "maybe that's what we're missing, locking them in a room together and not letting them out until they resolve things."

He cocked his head to the side, a small smile forming on his lips. "I say we give them until New Year's. If they haven't sorted it out by then, let's do that."

Dinah considered him for a moment, a smirk on her own lips, "sounds fair. We will have to distract Mia somehow."

"We could take her out on patrol." His eyes glittered with devious amusement.

"You really think a couple of hours will be enough?" Dinah asked in disbelief, "we will need to keep her busy for a day or two."

"And we'll need a room just the right size where they can't escape and can't get _too_ far away from one another." He raised an eyebrow.

She squinted a little and nodded, thinking "make sure they have no cell phones or any form of distraction."

"And give them food and water but just enough to keep them from getting sick. Don't want them to get _too_ comfortable either." AC grinned. "Maybe a basement somewhere."

"A place with a bed," Dinah said, " _that_ should solve most of their problems."

He smirked at that. "And ours."

This was going to be fun.


	3. Chapter 3

**Star City HQ -- December 24, 2010**

Oliver had laid in bed for the past two hours and done nothing but stare blankly at the ceiling. He'd had fun with Mia, wrapping presents and baking cookies. He couldn't remember the last time he'd actually bothered to notice the Christmas season, let alone actually celebrate it. But having Mia around at least made him feel like he should make an effort for her sake. 

Now, though, he just felt like he wanted to curl up and sleep for the next twenty-four hours and ignore the rest of the stupid holiday all together. 

He sighed softly, tossing his blankets back and climbing out of bed. Maybe a glass of whiskey would help him sleep. Sounded like a good plan to him anyway. He made his way down the steps quietly, listening to the otherwise silent house, and glancing at the large, lit Christmas tree in the corner of the living area before he stepped into the dark kitchen, not bothering with a light. 

Chloe was standing by the glass door in the kitchen, her back to the room as she looked outside, she could see the pool, and past that, the beach and she was dreading the next morning. Sure, it was going to be nice to see Mrs. Kent and Mr. White and it was good to have J'onn around, but things with Oliver were bad. Worse than they'd ever been, and she wanted him to have a good Christmas, at least with Mia and she knew her being there would make things awkward, to say the least.

Oliver paused as he caught sight of her small figure standing in front of the door, the bright moonlight shining through the glass and illuminating her to the point that there was no mistaking her for anyone else. He swallowed hard. "Hi," he said quietly.

Her eyes widened and she turned around quickly, hitting her hand against the doorknob hard, causing the glass to slip and shatter on the floor with a loud crash in the otherwise silent house, she glanced at him, then down at the glass and blinked, "crap."

His eyes widened, too and he looked down at the broken shards and grimaced, holding a hand out toward her. "Stay still," he said quietly, noting her bare feet. "I'll go grab the vacuum."

She nodded a little and didn't move, "thanks," she said in a whisper, the bottom of her pajama pants and her socks were both soaked in water, and she was squinting down at them, trying to see if she had managed to cut herself on top of it.

He returned quickly, wearing a pair of boots so he didn't cut himself, and moved to plug in the vacuum sweeper. He hesitated a moment, then stepped close to her. "I need to pick you up to move you so you don't step in glass. Is that okay?"

"Thanks," she said quietly, looking over at him and nodding slightly.

"Put your good arm around my neck," he murmured, and when she did, he swallowed hard, finding himself closer to her physically than he had been in weeks. He gazed at her for a moment, a memory of a night a couple weeks before flashing through his mind...

* * *

**Kitchen, Star City HQ -- December 7, 2010**

Chloe sighed tiredly and rubbed a hand over her face as she made her way down the stairs, her mouth was dry and she had been tossing and turning for the past forty minutes and hadn't been able to go back to sleep so she decided to go downstairs and get something to drink then maybe go back into the computer room and try to do some work.

She was completely silence as she made her way into the kitchen with her socked feet and she reached to turn her light on and gasped, her eyes widening when she saw a figure there and it took her a full moment to realize who it was, "god, you scared me," she whispered, her hand over her chest, her heart beating fast.

Oliver turned to face her slowly, a glass of water in one hand and a bottle of pills in the other as he stared back at her. "Sorry," he said quietly, moving over to the counter and opening the bottle of pills, shaking two out and downing them quickly with the water.

"I just didn't expect to see anyone here, in the _dark_ ," she said quietly, moving to the cupboard to pick up a glass.

He dumped out the rest of his water into the sink. "Don't worry, I'm leaving," he answered, heading for the door without looking at her.

Sighing deeply, she shook her head, "Oliver..."

He paused, turning to glance at her, his lips pursed as he remained silent.

She turned to look at him and watched him for a full moment, "I--" she paused and shook her head, "maybe it would be better if I went back to Metropolis."

At that, he scowled. "You know what? You can't have it both ways, Chloe. Either I'm in your way and invading your space or I'm a jackass who's avoiding you. You asked me to leave you alone, and that's what I've been doing."

Chloe stilled and blinked, staring at him in shock for a moment, then letting her breath out, "I'm not trying to have it both ways, I'm trying to make this more comfortable for everyone."

"And you think the others want you to leave?" He shook his head. "This is your family, Chloe. But it's your decision." He headed for the door once again.

She let out a deep sigh and shook her head, but didn't stop him this time. _The others_ might not want her to leave, but she knew Mia did and she was starting to think he would prefer it that way too.

* * *

**Star City HQ -- December 24, 2010**

She held onto him as he lifted her, gazing at him for a moment then looking away, down at her feet and shaking them a little to get rid of any shards of glass that might have been on her clothes.

He set her down carefully on the nearest counter-top, meeting her eyes for a brief moment, then moving back to the vacuum, running it over the kitchen floor and hoping the noise wouldn't wake anyone else. When he felt sure he'd gotten all of the shattered glass cleaned up, he shut the sweeper off and glanced back at her. "Didn't mean to scare you. I wasn't expecting anyone to be up," he admitted quietly.

"It's okay," she said quietly, reaching down to take her wet socks off, but not getting down from the counter, "I should have turned a light on or something."

Oliver paused for a moment, nodding slightly. "Did you get cut?" he asked uncertainly.

"I don't think so," she looked at her feet then pulled her pants up over her knees and looked down at her legs, "doesn't look like it."

"Good," he murmured, bending down and winding the vacuum cord back up once more and raking a hand through his hair. "Couldn't sleep? Or waiting up for Santa?" There was a hint of teasing in his tone, but it was quiet, uncertain.

Chloe smiled slightly at that and shrugged a shoulder, "a little of both, maybe."

He smiled back faintly. "Mia and I made cookies earlier. You want one?" he asked.

"I thought I smelled cookies," she admitted, shifting toward the edge of the counter as she prepared to get down, "I could eat one." This was officially the longest non-work related conversation they had had since DC.

Oliver held his hand out to her hesitantly in a silent offer of help, not sure if she'd accept it or not.

She stopped and looked at him, holding his gaze for a moment then taking his hand and sliding off of the counter, "thanks."

"You're welcome," he said softly, gazing at her for a few seconds longer, then moving over to the container full of cookies he'd helped bake hours before. He pulled the lid off and held it out toward her. "Considering it was pretty much both of our first tries at baking, I think they turned out okay."

She looked down at the container and picked one cookie, raising her eyebrows, "well, they are not burned, that makes them better than anything I could make. Did you make them from scratch?"

He smiled a bit at that. The Sullivan-Lane's had a reputation for ruining things they tried to cook. "We did, actually. I'm just hoping no one chokes on that earring Mia lost in the process."

"Oh," she smiled a little too, "as long as it's just a stub, it should be okay."

He grinned. "I was kidding," he told her with a wink.

"I know," she smiled softly at him and turned her eyes down at the cookie when her heart skipped a beat, then took a bite of it, raising her eyebrows and nodding, "this is good."

Oliver's smile brightened at the compliment. "Thanks. Glad you like them."

Chloe couldn't help but smile more at the sight of his smile, he seemed relaxed, and that was definitely not an adjective she'd use for him anytime she was around. In fact, the only time he seemed relaxed anymore was around Mia, and away from everyone else. "It's good, Mrs. Fields good," she told him.

"Careful or my ego and I won't be able to make it out the door," he teased her, leaning back against the counter.

She shook her head a little, "I'm sure that problem will be taken care of when Mrs. Kent gets here tomorrow and starts cooking." She teased back.

He chuckled a little at that. "I'm not sure any of us will make it through the door once Mrs. Kent shows up and feeds us."

Chloe grinned and nodded, raising her eyebrows, "very good point."

Oliver picked up one of the cookies and took a bite of it, cocking his head to the side. "We need milk."

"Yeah," she agreed and stood up, walking over to the fridge and picking up the bottle of milk.

He got down two glasses and set them on the counter, watching her pour milk into each of them. He smiled a bit.

She glanced up at him and smiled softly once she was done, then moved away to put the milk back in the fridge.

Oliver carried the glasses over to the kitchen table and set them down, one across from the other, then pulled out a seat and sat down himself. He yawned involuntarily and offered her a sheepish smile. "I couldn't sleep either. Obviously."

Chloe sat down across from him and nodded, smiling softly, "well, if anyone asks, we're just trying to get an early start on the eating marathon." She told him then took another bite of her cookie.

"Or we're staking out the presents under the tree," he said with a faint smirk.

"Somehow, I find the eating excuse a little more believable," she told him, smiling.

He grinned and shrugged a little. "Well, they are good cookies."

"They are," she agreed, sipping on her milk, "did you let Mia open a present already, then?"

He nodded a little. "Yeah, the necklace I got her," he said softly.

"Oh," Chloe nodded, "did she like it?" She asked then took the last bite of her cookie.

"I think so. She said she did. And she put it on." He glanced at her. "That means she likes it, right?" He paused.

Chloe's face softened and she nodded, a smile on her lips, "yeah, I'm glad she liked it."

He relaxed again, smiling. "Me too. Thanks for helping me pick it out."

"No problem," she said sincerely, then reached for the container and took another cookie out.

Oliver leaned back in his chair, taking a drink of his milk. "This isn't why I came down here," he confessed, motioning to the cookies.

Chloe raised her eyebrows, surprised at the sudden confession, "why did you come down here?" She asked carefully.

"Well, I thought a glass of whiskey might help me fall asleep." He smiled a bit.

"Oh," she watched him, a slightly worried look on her face, "are you okay?" Even though she knew it was a stupid question, she had to ask.

He paused for a moment. "Honestly? I just want to try and get through tomorrow," he said quietly. "This whole holiday celebration..." He shook his head a little. "Not really my thing."

"I know," she said just as quietly, watching him. She'd known that for a long time now, since that Thanksgiving about... three years ago, when he was still seeing Lois and the Kents invited him to stay. She had noticed then that although he was going along with things, he was uncomfortable.

"I just want it to be a good day for Mia," he murmured, glancing at her for a moment. "And the others." He paused. "And you."

Her chest tightened a little and she nodded, looking at him for a moment then pursing her lips together, "I kinda just want it to be over with too..." she admitted in a whisper.

Oliver nodded and looked down at the table for a moment. "Yeah, I thought so." He exhaled softly, a smile threatening to take over as he remembered something he'd arranged weeks ago. "Maybe it won't be as bad as we think."

Chloe leaned back against the chair and broke a piece of the cookie, eating it in silence, "maybe it won't," she agreed quietly, "do you know when Carter and Courtney are supposed to get here?"

He made a face at that. "Far too soon for me," he responded wryly.

She couldn't help but smile a little at that, "he promised not to throw you out of any windows this time."

Oliver raised an eyebrow at her. "What about in through?"

Grinning slightly, she shook her head, "no promises about that one."

"Comforting," he said with amusement.

"At least if you land inside, it will be warmer and the fall won't hurt as much?" She suggested innocently.

"Didn't hold true _last_ time," he said with a smirk.

"How do you know?" She asked, raising her eyebrows and watching him, "he didn't throw you _out_ of a window so you really have no basis for comparison."

"Well, for one, if he throws me outside _here_ , it's only a two story fall at the most. And the grass outside is soft. Watchtower was...not." He grinned.

"See? It's better already," she teased, smiling at him.

He chuckled. "Point taken."

Chloe nodded, enjoying the fact that he was chuckling and relaxed and that they were actually having a nice conversation. It had helped her relax and although her feet were freezing, she really didn't want to go upstairs.

"You know what we need?" He raised his eyebrows at her.

"What?" She asked, raising her eyebrows back at him curiously.

"Hot chocolate," he told her with a boyish grin. "Want some?"

She considered for a moment, smiling brightly at the look on his face then raising her eyebrows more, "I could never say no to anything that involves chocolate."

He grinned a little more and rose to his feet. "Two cups of hot chocolate coming up." He moved over to the counter and searched through one of the cabinets until he found the large container of hot chocolate mix.

Chloe turned on her chair slightly so she could watch him, "can I ask you something?" She said quietly after a moment of silence as he worked.

Oliver paused for a moment, his back to her, but he nodded, feeling his stomach tighten. "Yeah, what's up?"

"Do you think..." she paused, turning on her chair some more, "do you think Mia still hates me?"

He glanced over his shoulder at her. "She doesn't hate you, Chloe," he said softly.

She pursed her lips together and nodded, "I know, she's just being protective of you, but you know what I mean..."

He sighed softly, falling silent for a moment as he mixed the hot chocolate powder with the water. "Which is really weird," he murmured. "It's supposed to be the other way around, you know?" He put one of the mugs in the microwave and turned to look at her.

"Not really," Chloe said quietly, "she doesn't want to see you hurt, she cares about you," pursing her lips together, she shrugged a little, "and I know the situation is different, but if someone hurt my dad, I would go tell them off too."

His eyes widened a little. "Whoa. Wait. What?"

Her eyes widened too when she saw the look on his face, and she quickly went over her sentence again to try and figure out what she said wrong, and when she did, she sighed and shook her head, "I'm not saying you're her dad, but you're the only authority figure in her life, you're her guardian, you know what I mean..."

Oliver rubbed a hand over the back of his neck, trying to process her words. "She told you off?"

At that, Chloe's stomach dropped. Her and her big mouth. Pursing her lips together, she shook her head, "it wasn't really telling me off, it's fine."

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "Chloe, look...this isn't how I wanted things," he said quietly.

"No," Chloe shook her head, smiling softly at him, "it's fine, really, I know what she was doing, Oliver, you don't have to worry about it."

"She just...doesn't really understand everything," he said softly, gazing at her. How could she, at sixteen, when Oliver wasn't sure _he_ really understood the things that had happened between them?

"I know," she nodded and took a deep breath, "like I said, I don't blame her and I'm not offended or anything, I just... I'm not sure how to get on her good side."

Oliver considered that for a moment, then carried the mug of hot chocolate over to her when the microwave timer went off. He moved back and placed his own mug inside. "Well..." He leaned against the counter once more, looking deep in thought. "You could invite her to do some girl thing with you. And take her out for Italian. She loves Italian."

"Thank you," she said as she took the mug from him, but at his suggestion, Chloe paused, considering his words for a moment, "do you think she would want to?"

"Well, I'm not exactly the right gender to do the girly shopping thing or whatever." He paused, gazing at her for a moment and then his eyes lit up. "I have an idea."

Chloe knew that look on his face too, so she sat up, "what is it?"

He grinned, looking quite proud of himself. "I'll send the two of you to a spa."

"Oh," she paused, not as enthusiastic about his plan, "I... don't know, I don't want her to feel like she's stuck with me."

He smirked. "Which is why we just won't tell her you'll be there."

"But..." Chloe shook her head a little, "don't you think she will see through it and will feel like we're planning something behind her back and will hate me even more?"

"Not if _you_ don't know anything about it." He raised his eyebrows.

She paused and watched him for a moment, "you know her better than I do, do you really think that would help?"

"She'll know I arranged it and she'll know exactly why I did it," he said quietly. "It'll give the two of you some time alone--well, as alone as you can be at a spa--but public enough that she won't cause a scene or make trouble. I think it has possibility."

Chloe took a deep breath and watches him for a long moment, "if you really think that's a good idea..." she said quietly, still unsure.

"It'll be okay," he said softly, removing his own mug from the microwave and taking a sip before moving back to the table.

She watched him and sipped on her own chocolate, "okay," she agreed reluctantly.

"Just trust me," Oliver murmured, gazing at her for a moment and resisting the urge to reach across the table and cover her hand with his own.

Holding his gaze, she let out her breath and nodded slowly, "I do," she told him quietly, smiling slightly and relaxing against the chair.

He smiled back softly and relaxed in his chair, as well.

Chloe watched him for a moment then picked up her mug and sipped on it slowly, feeling as the warmth of the beverage burned its way down her stomach in a comfortable way, and relaxed too. Maybe it was some kind of Christmas miracle on a small scale that she and Oliver had bumped into each other and more than that, were _comfortable_ with one another, either way, she had no plans to go back to bed, she knew she wasn't going to feel as good as she did now, sitting there with him.


	4. Chapter 4

**Star City Headquarters -- December 25, 2010**

Oliver awoke slowly a few hours later, his eyebrows furrowing slightly as he realized one of his arms was draped around someone else. _Oh god. Here we go_ , he thought nervously as he realized the person was Chloe, and her head was resting against his chest. He opened his eyes slowly and blinked a few times, trying to clear his vision. He shifted slightly, not enough to disturb Chloe, but enough to adjust the pillow behind his back. He vaguely remembered the two of them deciding to move to the sofa to be more comfortable, and remembered them talking for at least three more hours after they had. He just hoped she didn't freak out when she woke up.

Chloe shifted a little in her sleep, sighing deeply as she started to wake up, as she shifted her head, she realized her cheek was pressed against something warm... that had a heartbeat inside of it, she stilled and she could hear the heartbeat increasing. Oliver. They had fallen asleep together. _Again_. She shifted slightly, but kept her eyes closed, although she was inwardly freaking out, she could tell from the way his heart was beating, that he was nervous. Nervous no doubt about how she would react to this.

So instead of jumping up and pulling away from him, she took another calming breath and just shifted once more before finally opening her eyes. It was Christmas, and the last thing she wanted to do was to make things more awkward than they had to be. She blinked and stared up at him, trying to see his reaction without pulling her arm from around him.

"Morning," he said softly, unsure of everything as he gazed back at her.

Smiling a little, she closed her eyes again, then slowly started to pull back, her own heart beating fast, but she kept her expression as calm as possible, "guess we fell asleep," she mumbled.

"Well, it was really late," he admitted, rubbing a hand over his eyes as she pulled away.

"Yeah," she sat up, stretching her arms, careful not to hurt her shoulder as she did, "and warm..."

"Welcome to December in California," he teased softly.

Chloe smiled a little and rubbed her hands over her face, "the hot chocolate, blanket and heater probably helped."

"Heater?" His eyebrows furrowed a little.

"The heater isn't on?" She asked with a frown.

"I'm not sure I've ever kicked the heater on in here," he told her with faint amusement.

"Oh," she blinked a little and shook her head, smiling softly, "I just assumed..."

He smiled back at her. "Must have just been the blanket."

Shaking her head, she turned slightly to look down at him, "partially," she told him quietly.

Oliver paused at that. "Right," he said just as quietly.

Chloe gave him a quick smile then shrugged her good shoulder. Over two months later, she had gotten used to only shrugging one shoulder, "Merry Christmas," she told him quietly. She wasn't sure why she was still sitting there, so close to him, she should have gotten up and put some safe distance between them, but she really didn't want to, like she didn't want to the previous night when, in the back of her mind, she knew she was going to fall asleep with him.

"Merry Christmas," he said just as quietly, gazing at her intently, his heart beating a little faster when he realized she wasn't moving away. And when the doorbell rang, he cursed inwardly. "Guess our day guests are here."

She jumped a little at the doorbell and blinked, looking away from him then finally standing up. "I'll get it," she told him, reluctantly walking away, toward the door as she rubbed her face then ran her fingers through her hair to make sure she looked halfway presentable, she would have to go change once they were inside. She didn't even think of checking on the camera this time, just unlocked the door and opened it. And then she stilled, her eyes widening comically in shock. Definitely _not_ who she was expecting.

Lois smiled at her brightly, a suitcase in each hand. "Merry Christmas!"

"What are you doing here?" Chloe asked when she was finally able to speak, the shock slowly being replaced by a smile.

She set her suitcases down and hugged her carefully, not putting pressure on her cousin's ribs or shoulder. "It's Christmas! Like I wasn't going to be here?" She looked over Chloe's shoulder to where Oliver was standing, and smiled.

He smiled back at her and nodded a little.

Chloe didn't care much about her shoulder and her ribs were pretty healed already anyway, so she hugged her cousin back tightly, closing her eyes for a second, "it's so good to see you."

"Likewise." Lois closed her eyes, as well. For the first time in months, she felt whole again. "I've missed you. And I brought presents!"

After a long moment, Chloe finally pulled back, "well, it's a good thing I decided to buy your presents on time but not send it on time then, isn't it?" It would have gotten there on time anyway, Bart promised he'd run them there as soon as he woke, of course, now she knew _why_ he hadn't agreed on running them there the previous night like she asked him to.

Lois smiled brightly at her. "Yes! We all need presents on Christmas morning, but I have to tell you that as soon as we're done opening presents and eating, I'm going to crash because it is a looong flight from Africa to Star City and I'm beyond jet-lagged. There is coffee right? I need coffee."

Chloe smiled brightly back and reached for one of Lois' suitcases with her good arm, "let’s take your things upstairs and then you can shower or change if you want to and I'll make you some coffee." She promised, still not really believing that her cousin was _there_.

"We're bunking together, right? Because we have a lot of catching up to do and when I get caught up on sleep we'll be up all night." She picked up her other suitcase.

"Guess I better nap when you do, then," Chloe smiled, "and of course we are, wouldn't want to miss any time," she told her cousin and as she turned around, she saw Oliver standing there, a soft, almost proud smile on his face as he looked at the two of them.

That was when it dawned on her.

Her chest tightened a little as she stared at him and her face softened, she pursed her lips together and held his gaze as a soft, completely sincere, completely open smile appeared on her lips, "thank you," she mouthed to him, her eyes a little glassy. She knew he had to be behind Lois getting there, she wasn't sure how, but by the look on his face alone, she just... _knew_. Even with how awful things had been between them up to the previous night, he had given her the best Christmas present she could ask for.

Oliver met her eyes and smiled softly at her in return, nodding ever-so-slightly and stepping aside so they could reach the stairs. His own chest was tight at the expression on her face.

"Want to grab my bags, Mr. Green?" Lois asked with a smirk, raising her eyebrows at him.

He smiled at her. "Sure." He took the suitcases from both of them and led the way up the stairs.

"Lois..." Chloe shook her head and sighed before following him toward the bedroom.

"What? He's the one with the bulging biceps." Still smirking, she followed Chloe, glancing around the house.

Chloe was really glad they had taken all the necessary precautions to make sure the house looked perfectly normal for Mr. White's visit, all archery material had been moved into the computer room, which had been locked and the only way to get inside was by fingerprint analysis and a very loud alarm would sound if anyone tried to break in. It was hard enough to explain why they all lived there together as it was.

She followed Oliver inside her room, "thanks," she said out loud this time.

"No problem," he told her, meeting her eyes for a brief moment. "Well, I'll let you two catch up and...I'll go start breakfast." He smiled faintly and headed out the door.

Once he left, Chloe turned to Lois, "try and be nice to him?" She asked.

Lois raised her eyebrows. "When am I not nice to him?"

"Uh huh," Chloe said, giving her a knowing look then smiling, "I need to change, I just woke up too and Mrs. Kent and Mr. White will be here soon."

She grinned at her cousin. "I'll just go help Ollie with breakfast."

"You don't wanna change or shower or anything?" Chloe offered, not sure she liked Lois' eagerness to help _Ollie_ with _breakfast_. And the grin on her face told Chloe she was up to something.

"I showered on the jet," she informed her, her eyes bright.

"Oh," Chloe cocked her head, "Ollie sent his jet?" She shouldn't have been surprised.

"I wasn't supposed to tell you that he had anything to do with it, but I told him you'd figure it out anyway, and you did, so yeah." Lois shrugged a little. "Plus I need coffee and I'm sure since you live here there's a huge coffee maker somewhere in that kitchen."

"Italian espresso coffee maker," Chloe nodded, raising her eyebrows. It had been in the computer room, but they moved it to the kitchen for their guests.

"I knew it!" She beamed as if Chloe had just told her that the kitchen was filled with gold. "And plenty of incredible gourmet coffee!"

"Something else you have Oliver to thank for," she pointed out and smiled at her cousin, "go ahead. I'll be down soon."

Lois grinned. "See you in a few." She headed out the door and toward the stairs.

Chloe watched Lois go then quickly started getting ready, she didn't know what she was up to, but she was going to find out. Either way, she was glad to see her and even if Christmas wasn't all that great, it would be good to be with her. Besides, it looked like she and Oliver were finally back to being friendly, which made the day better than she expected by far.

* * *

Oliver wasn't entirely surprised that he'd barely gotten the carton of eggs from the fridge before he heard footsteps behind him. And he didn't have to turn around to know it was Lois. She just wasn't as sneaky as she tended to think she was. "How was the flight? Besides long?" he asked with an amused smile.

"Someday, I will find out how you do that," she informed him then shrugged a shoulder, "long, boring, kinda comfortable, where is the coffee?"

"Brewing," he assured her. "It was the first thing I did when I got in here."

"Need help making anything?" Lois asked curiously, glancing at the pans he had set on the stove already.

Oliver looked over at her and raised an eyebrow. "You really think food poisoning would be a good Christmas gift?" he asked with a smirk.

"I can make scrambled eggs!" Lois defended herself, "they are just usually very well done."

He grinned at her. "I'm making French toast. But if you want to set the table, the dishes are above the sink."

Lois' eyes narrowed at him for a moment then she shrugged a shoulder and pulled out a chair, sitting down instead, "how is my cousin doing anyway?"

"Don't you think you should be asking her that?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

She crossed her arms over her chest, "seriously, Queen? Like she's gonna tell me the truth? You have to tell me so when I talk to her, I know which buttons to press until she breaks."

Oliver was silent for a moment as he set about mixing milk with the egg yolk and reaching for the cinnamon. "She's healing pretty well," he said hesitantly. Even though he and Chloe hadn't been talking much, he had stayed informed on her condition from Emil, who assured him she was healing normally and he expected her to make a full recovery--both from the gunshot wound and the broken ribs.

"Right," Lois rolled her eyes, "how about you try actually answering my question this time?"

"I would, but I don't have an answer."

That made Lois stop and she raised a single eyebrow at him, then waited for him to go on.

He simply shrugged a little, keeping his back to her.

"How are _you_ doing?" She asked instead.

Oliver was silent for a moment. "I'm okay," he said quietly.

"Yeah, right," Lois shook her head and stood up, "what's going on, Ollie?"

He turned to look at her, his expression carefully neutral. "I'm sure Chloe told you that we're not...together," he said carefully.

"Yeah, she told me." Lois made a face.

"Then you know what's going on already," he said with a small smile, turning back to the task at hand. He began to soak bread in the mixture he'd put together, then tossed it on a skillet.

"Yeah, I knew that," she frowned, "I just don't get _why_ and that she won't tell me."

"It's complicated," he said softly, closing his eyes for a moment.

"I'm sure it is," she said sarcastically, "and it's not just you two making it complicated or anything, because that's not like you at all."

Oliver shook his head. "How's Kenya?" he asked, not bothering a less subtle approach to a subject change.

Lois' eyes narrowed slightly, but she shrugged, storing information for later, "hot and since not all of us can have a backyard with a pool or even _air conditioning_ it's been like living in a sauna."

He glanced at her with a small frown. "You realize you could have called and your friend with a lot of money could have had air conditioning installed wherever you're staying at any point, right?" He turned the stove on.

"It's about the _experience_ , Oliver," Lois said, then raised her eyebrows, "can you have it done before I get back?"

Oliver couldn't help but grin at that. "Had enough of the experience then?" he teased. "Yeah. I can have it done by then."

"Riding an elephant was experience enough, trust me." She told him then walked over to the coffee maker, "seriously? Does it always take this long?"

"You rode an elephant? There are pictures, right? Please tell me there are pictures." He smirked. "I see living in Africa hasn't helped you develop patience, Lois."

"There is no such thing as patience when we are talking about coffee," she snapped at him, "and they are cute and all but do you know how bad those things smell? Not to mention, they are slow, give me a horse any day."

He chuckled. "By horse I assume you mean a mustang with four wheels." He flipped the French toast. "It's good to see you, Lois."

"There are other kinds?" she asked, smirking at him, "so who else is here? Your kid is living here too, right?"

Oliver rolled his eyes. "Yes, Mia is here, too. And...a few friends."

"Yeah? Who?" She asked, raising her eyebrows.

"I don't think you know them," he told her, glancing at her sideways. "But I'm sure once they start smelling food they'll be down soon." 

"As long as they don't try to drink _my_ coffee," Lois warned, eying the coffee maker again.

"We have a rule in the house, Lois. It's called sharing. I know it's a difficult concept for you to grasp," he said lightly, hearing footsteps approaching the kitchen.

"Sullivan-Lanes don't share coffee, Oliver, you've been around us long enough to know that," she said sternly.

Chloe smirked a little, "except with each other," she added as she walked into the kitchen, she had taken a quick shower and changed into jeans and a top, her mind still blown by the fact that it was Christmas and she was wearing short-sleeves without the heater even being on.

"Why do I get the feeling I'm about to get ganged up on?" Oliver smirked, flipping the French toast again.

"Actually, I think you have just been schooled, so you're good to go." Chloe pointed out, checking on the coffee maker as soon as she made her way across the kitchen.

"Oh, that's good to know." He smiled and shook his head a little.

Chloe grabbed two mugs and started preparing their coffees, foam, cinnamon and cocoa powder on top, then held one out to her cousin, "best coffee you've ever had."

"I have no doubt." Lois grinned and took it from her. "The best money can buy." She took a drink and leaned back in her chair, moaning.

Wincing, Chloe made a face at the noise, "glad you liked it."

Lois grinned at her reaction. "Oh, I _love_ it. It's the best damn coffee I've had in months."

"Maybe if you behave, I will ship you some," Chloe suggested, raising her eyebrows and sipping on her own coffee.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm behaving just fine," she responded with a smirk, taking another sip, as well.

Oliver rolled his eyes and placed the French toast on two plates, moving over and setting them down in front of the women.

Chloe gave her cousin a look then looked up at Oliver, raising her eyebrows a little, "you're not going to eat?" She asked quietly.

He turned his head toward the doorway at the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. "Afraid I have more cooking to do," he told her with a small smile. "Enjoy." He headed back to the stove just as Bart and Mia appeared in the kitchen. "I'll have more fixed in a few minutes," he promised.

"Merry Christmas!" Bart announced loudly, pausing when he noticed Lois, his eyes widening a little because he was just about to run a lap around the kitchen to show off to Mia, "we have guests..." he walked over to Lois, "you must be Chloe's cousin," he took her hand and kissed the back of it, "I'm Bart."

Lois raised an eyebrow, a smile touching her lips as she glanced at Chloe. "I am. Nice to meet you, Bart."

"It is very nice to meet you, Lois," he smiled, "I see good looks run in the family."

Chloe rolled her eyes and shook her head, "tone it down, Bart," she warned, raising one eyebrow and taking a bite of the french toast, pausing and looking over at Oliver, "this is really good, Oliver, thank you,"

"Well, he's not wrong," Lois told Chloe, grinning as she pulled her hand away from Bart. She glanced past him to Mia. "Hey, long time no see."

"Hi," Mia said with a small smile, nodding at her.

Oliver nodded in acknowledgement of Chloe's thanks. "You're welcome." He tossed more soaked bread onto the skillet.

Bart just grinned brightly at Chloe and moved to look over at what Oliver was doing, "man, I'm so hungry, I'm gonna need like ten of those."

Chloe looked over at Mia and raised her eyebrows a little, she should at least make an effort, "why don't you join us?"

"That's not different from any other time you eat, Bart," Oliver said with a smirk, glancing at him. "And Merry Christmas." He glanced over to Mia, nodding a little at her.

Mia sighed, pursing her lips. "I _am_ hungry." She moved over to the table and sat down beside Lois.

"Just making sure you make plenty of them." Bart told Oliver, grinning then opening the fridge and grabbing the milk.

Chloe watched Mia for a moment, then glanced over at Oliver, it was a start, even if it didn't last past Christmas.

Oliver met her eyes for a brief moment, offering her a small smile of encouragement. "Don't worry, Bart, there'll be plenty of food."

"Maybe. I'm starving, too," AC announced as he, Victor and Dinah made their way into the kitchen.

"I'll help," Victor offered, pulling out another skillet and reaching for the bread and dipping it in the batter and Dinah made a beeline to the coffee maker.

Chloe just sipped on her coffee and watched the interactions, she watched as Lois spoke with Mia and realized that she really wished they could just tell her the truth, she seemed to fit in so well with them and she already knew most of them anyway, but she couldn't put her cousin in danger like that.

At the sight of Dinah however, Lois paused mid-drink and stared. " _You_."

Dinah was raising the cup to her lips when she felt eyes on her, she paused, and raised her eyebrows at Lois. _Crap_. "Me?" She asked innocently.

Her eyes narrowed and she rose to her feet. "You're the crazy ninja lady who tried to kill me and Oliver," she accused.

Oliver's eyes widened a little and it occurred to him that he hadn't even considered the possibility that Lois might recognize _Dinah_. He turned over the cooking to Victor and quickly turned around. "Okay, Lois, there's a perfectly reasonable explanation," he said, holding up his hands.

Chloe wasn't entirely sure what that was, but she stood and placed a hand on her cousin's arm anyway, "it's okay, Lo."

Dinah looked from Lois, to Oliver, to Chloe, and back to Lois, "that was a long time ago, I'm not into that anymore."

"And my name's not Lois Lane," she responded, shooting the blond a look.

"Lois." Oliver moved so he was standing between her and Dinah. "She works with me now." He gazed at her intently. "And she's a good friend."

Chloe nodded, looking at her cousin, "it was a really big misunderstanding."

Dinah frowned and shook her head, "it wasn't, I just didn't know the guy I was working for was actually the bad guy."

"Gee, what clued you in?" Lois retorted, looking from Dinah to Oliver and then at her cousin. And then she caught sight of AC. And blinked. "Okay, what's going on here? What are _you_ doing here?" She was starting to feel like she'd stepped into the Twilight Zone.

AC offered her a small smile and glanced at Chloe, then at Lois. "Ollie's a friend."

"Ollie sure has a lot of friends," Lois commented, looking back at Oliver with a raised eyebrow. "Does he work with you, too?"

"Lo," Chloe moved to stand closer to her cousin, "why don't you and I go for a walk and I'll explain everything?" She offered, glancing at Oliver, it wasn't like they had much of a choice in the matter anymore.

He nodded slightly, watching them head toward the door.

He just hoped Lois would deal with it as well as she had finding out he was the Green Arrow.


	5. Chapter 5

**Ocean beach, Star City -- December 25, 2010**

After grabbing a couple of sweaters, Chloe led Lois through the back of the house and out toward the sand, remaining silently the entire time as she tried to figure out the best way to start this conversation. She was pretty sure Lois was going to be okay with what they did, she just wasn't sure she was going to be okay with the fact that her own cousin had been keeping so many secrets from her.

"Okay, what's going on?" Lois asked, following her cousin closely out onto the beach.

"Okay," Chloe took a deep breath and glanced at her cousin out of the corner of her eyes as they walked, "so... remember that non-profit I told you I've been working for for... well about two years now?"

"Yes." She glanced at Chloe sideways, raising her eyebrows and winding her arms around herself.

"Well, that's what we all work for," Chloe told her, "except, Queen Industries really doesn't have anything to do with it, well, it funds it, but we kinda have to leak the money in a way no one will notice because we rather not let anyone know we exist."

Lois paused at that, stopping in her tracks. "Are you telling me that Ollie funds some kind of non-profit superhero group?"

"That's... one way of putting it." Chloe said, pursing her lips together and looking up at her cousin, "yeah."

She stared back at Chloe for a moment. "I can't believe it. My cousin's a superhero." 

"I'm not, not really," Chloe smiled a little, "I don't even have a costume."

"So you...what? Run things?" Her eyebrows furrowed.

"Pretty much," Chloe nodded, sliding her hands inside her pockets, "whenever one of them is out on a mission, I have the GPS on them and if they need help or directions, they let me know and I send someone else or talk them through it."

"Wow." Lois stared at her for another moment. "I always knew my favorite cousin was amazing, but I didn't realize she was in charge of a team of superheroes."

"I'm not in charge of anything, Lo," Chloe shook her head a little, "it's Ollie's team."

"But you're guiding them through missions and stuff, right? I'm assuming that includes Oliver."

"It does," she agreed quietly, watching her cousin.

Lois grinned. "My cousin is head bitch in charge."

Chloe laughed softly, relaxing a little as she realized Lois seemed okay with it, even if she was surprised by the fact that she wasn't being bombarded with questions, " _Bitch_? Okay, I guess I can take that title," she smirked, teasingly.

"Runs in our family, Chlo." She wrapped her arm around Chloe's waist.

She wrapped her arm around her too and smiled up at her cousin, "so you're okay with this?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Her eyebrows furrowed.

"Because I didn't tell you about it," Chloe pointed out, raising her eyebrows.

"You're keeping some of the biggest secrets imaginable to keep people safe. I understand, Chloe," Lois said softly, looking out toward the ocean.

Chloe paused at that and raised her eyebrows a little, watching her cousin closely, "you do?"

"Well, yeah." She glanced at her sideways. "I've been keeping The Blur's identity secret for months now." She watched Chloe back just as closely.

Squinting, Chloe looked up at her cousin, "you know the Blur's real identity?"

Lois turned to face her. "We both do, don't we?" She raised an eyebrow, studying her intently.

"I know I do," Chloe said, holding Lois' gaze, if her cousin knew about the rest of the team, she wasn't going to keep lying to her for _Clark_ , who may or may not find his way back into their lives.

She relaxed a little, holding Chloe's gaze in return. "I can't believe I didn't figure it out sooner considering how long I actually _lived_ with the guy."

Chloe smirked a little at that, "how _did_ you figure it out?"

Lois relaxed more, and shook her head. "You know that guy he was supposedly friends with? That Zod guy?"

She couldn't help but tense a little at the mention of Zod as she remembered just how close that monster had gotten to her cousin, "yeah."

"Well, apparently he also had some kind of super powers. And I'm pretty sure he would have killed me, but the real Blur showed up and stopped him. And when he kissed me...well. There really wasn't any doubt after that," she admitted quietly.

"Oh," Chloe raised her eyebrows a little then shook her head, "good job, Clark."

A sad smile touched Lois' lips. "I guess he just...wasn't ready to tell me." She paused. "And possibly thought I was too dumb to figure it out from that."

Chloe watched her cousin for a moment and tightened her arm around her, hugging her to her side as she realized that Lois probably had no idea about what had happened to Clark, "do you know where he is?"

"Metropolis or Smallville, I assume." She shrugged, looking away again. "I haven't talked to him since I left."

Pursing her lips together, Chloe considered her words carefully, "it's not really my place to tell you anything, but I don't want you to think that he hasn't contacted you because he doesn't care."

Her eyebrows furrowed a little at that. "Meaning what?"

"Meaning he's out of the country and unreachable for..." Chloe shook her head a little, she hated that she had to be the one to tell her cousin this, "I don't know how long, probably another couple of years at least."

Lois opened her mouth to respond, but no words came out. She swallowed hard, looking out over the ocean and biting down on her lower lip. "Oh."

"I'm sorry, Lo," Chloe said quietly, watching her closely, "and I'm sorry you're not hearing this from him."

She shrugged a little. "I wasn't expecting anything, really. I'm sure he had his reasons."

"It had nothing to do with you," she told her cousin, hugging her to her side, "he's dealing with who he is... and I know for sure that he's safe." Because even though she was still less than happy about how Clark just chose to leave _again_ she had the satellite pointed to the fortress and if anything happened to it, she would know.

"That's good. I'm glad he's safe," Lois answered, a hint of distance in her tone. "But I'm not going to spend my life waiting for him either."

"Good," Chloe said firmly, watching her cousin, "I don't want you to. The only reason I'm telling you this at all is because I figured you might want some kind of closure."

She drew in a breath and let it out slowly, nodding. "Thank you," she said quietly, resting her head against Chloe's.

Chloe rubbed her hand softly over Lois' arm and hugged her, to her side, "I'm really glad I don't have to hide anything from you anymore," she said quietly.

At that, Lois turned and hugged her properly, closing her eyes. "I've missed you," she whispered.

"I missed you too," Chloe said quietly, hugging her cousin back.

"And you realize now that I'm here, you're going to have to spill every single detail of what exactly happened between you and Oliver, because I'm _dying_ to know what's going on and he wouldn't say a word."

Chloe's stomach dropped and she pulled back, sighing deeply and shaking her head, it was just like her cousin to throw something like her at that, she should have seen it coming, "that was six months ago, Lo, just forget about it."

She raised an eyebrow. "Neither of you have forgotten, so don't expect me to. Come on, it'll be good for you to talk to _someone_ about it, and who better than your older cousin who will happily kick Mr. Green's ass if he hurt you in any way?"

"There will be no need for that," Chloe warned her cousin quickly, "Ollie didn't do anything." she added quietly.

Lois studied her. "You ended things?"

Pursing her lips together, she nodded a little and looked away from Lois. Technically, she had.

Her face fell at Chloe's expression. "Oh." She was quiet for a moment. "Well, then. We'll have a belated Ben and Jerry's girl's night where we watch every chick flick under the sun."

Chloe tried for a smile as she glanced at Lois and shook her head a little, "I won't say no to ice cream, but we can skip the chick flick part."

Lois studied her. "You love him. Don't you?"

She stilled and frowned at her cousin, "Lois..."

"That's what I thought." She shook her head a little and wound her arm around Chloe's waist.

Making a face, Chloe shook her head too, "we should head back."

"You're right. Hopefully everyone's up because I want my presents!" She grinned, letting the topic drop for the time being. But she hadn't had her final say yet.

Not by a long shot.

* * *

**Star City HQ -- December 25, 2010**

When Chloe and Lois got back, all of their guests had already arrived and had their breakfast, they quickly made their way to the living room and Bart distributed the presents, there were so many of them, most people couldn't even hold all of theirs on their lap. The living room was a huge mess of wrapping paper and bows and there were shouts of thank yous every few seconds, gasps and people showing off their gifts to the others. It was loud, warm and comfortable, like a big, happy family.

Chloe was sitting on the floor next to one of the couches, Lois by her side, both pretty much hidden by the growing mountain of paper and boxes in front of them and ever-so-often, Chloe couldn't help but glance at Oliver, she wanted to make sure she didn't miss his face when he opened the main gift she'd gotten him.

"Okay, I think there are only three presents left," AC announced, reaching beneath the tree and arching an eyebrow as he looked at the tags. "One for Oliver, and one for Chloe. From each other." He glanced between them, then moved over and handed them out.

"I thought you said three," Lois said in confusion.

"Well, one's not inside," he said, glancing at Ollie with a smirk.

He smiled a bit, taking the rather large package from him. The tag simply said 'Ollie, from Chloe.' He glanced over at her, meeting her eyes for a moment.

Chloe held her breath a little and smiled slightly at him.

He smiled back at her. "You want to go first?"

"Sure," she said quietly, picking up the package she had on her lap and looking down at it as she ripped the paper, there were two small boxes and from the size and shape of them, she could tell it was jewelry, so she glanced at him and raised her eyebrows a little then opened the first one, it was a beautiful emerald necklace, her eyes widened as she stared at it, "Oliver," she said quietly then looked over at him, "it's beautiful."

Oliver met her eyes again. "I saw you looking at it when we were in D.C.," he admitted quietly.

Her cheeks flushed slightly and she nodded, smiling shyly, "you really shouldn't have."

He was oblivious to the fact that everyone had fallen silent, and was watching them. "I wanted to."

Chloe held his gaze for a moment longer then looked down again, raising her eyebrows when she opened the box and saw a bracelet, "oh... this is... really pretty."

"It was an almost perfect match, so I couldn't resist," he admitted.

"And they are green," she teased quietly, smiling up at him, "thank you."

"You're welcome," Oliver said just as quietly, nodding a little. He drew in a breath and looked down at the package in his hands, glancing at her once more before carefully tearing the paper away to reveal a photograph book. Or at least what appeared to be a photograph book. His eyebrows furrowed a little and he opened it to the first page, growing still as he realized it wasn't a photo book, but a scrapbook. And the first page had a copy of his parents' wedding photo on it. Swallowing hard, he looked up at her wordlessly, his chest tight.

Chloe looked back at him, trying to read his expression. She couldn't think of what to get him, he bought everything he wanted, and it wasn't like offering to pay for dinner or anything like that was a possibility with him. So she figured something of sentimental value, something she could make. And since he had lost his parents so young, she knew he didn't have a lot of memories so she did what she did best and researched, found every article, every picture, every story she could and put it together in a scrapbook for him.

But now the expression on his face was making her nervous, the last thing she wanted was for him to think she was digging into his family's history or snooping where she didn't belong.

He looked back down at the album, slowly flipping through the pages even as he felt his eyes get blurry. He forced himself to take a deep breath, a faint smile touching his lips. A lot of the articles she'd found were ones he'd never come across before. He looked up at her again. "Thank you," he said very quietly, meeting her gaze. "This must have taken a lot of time to put together." Even for her.

She relaxed slightly and smiled a little back at him, holding his gaze, "it wasn't that long," she assured him, well, good part of the past month, but she had enjoyed reading about his parents and his family and all they did not only for Star City but for the country.

Martha looked between them, a faint smile on her lips as she looked over at Lois.

He closed the book carefully, still gazing at her, still oblivious to everyone else.

Lois smiled at the exchange then smirked at Martha, giving her a small nod.

Chloe held his gaze, a soft smile on her lips, and then she stopped when she realized the room was in complete silence for the first time. The smile disappeared from her lips and she blinked, looking around and realizing everyone was staring at the two of them, she raised her eyebrows, "is everyone done opening their gifts?"

"Except that one that's outside," AC said with a slight nod, glancing at the space under the tree, which was finally bare now.

"Right, that one." Oliver smiled and rose to his feet.

She smiled again at that and nodded at Oliver, but didn't say anything, she had no doubt Mia would love it.

He looked down at Mia, who had been sitting beside him. "Are you coming?"

Mia arched her eyebrow at him and moved all her gifts to the now empty spot on the couch then stood up, still trying to figure out how she felt about the gift Chloe had given Oliver, at least the other woman hadn't been completely selfish when picking out his gift, but she didn't like the way they were staring at each other.

Oliver smiled at her and led the way out the front door to where the brand new, fiery red convertible was parked in the driveway. "Merry Christmas."

She stilled, eyes wide as she looked from the car to Oliver, "what?" She had already gotten a bunch of gifts, he really couldn't mean that...

He grinned at her and pulled a set of keys from his jeans pocket, dangling them in front of her.

" _That_ ," she said, glancing at the car then back at him, "is _mine_?"

"It's all yours," he told her with a nod, his eyes bright.

Mia stared at him for a long moment, mouth hanging open then took the keys from him before giving him a hug, " _awesome!_ "

Oliver hugged her back, kissing the top of her head. "Take it for a spin."

She looked up at him, her eyes wide, "yeah I am, aren't you coming?" She asked, halfway toward the driver's side already.

He grinned. "Sure." He glanced over his shoulder. "We'll be back!" he called, following her and hopping into the passenger seat.

Mia wasted no time in getting into the car and starting the engine, "ready?" She smirked at him, making sure his door was closed before stepping in the gas and driving out of the garage.

He quickly fastened his seatbelt, arching his eyebrow at her. "Try to keep it below breaking the sound barrier," he teased.

"What's the fun in that?" She asked with a smirk.

Oliver simply chuckled.


	6. Chapter 6

**Oliver's room, Star City HQ -- December 25, 2010**

Later that evening, Oliver was sitting at the desk in his bedroom, gazing down at the scrapbook that Chloe had made him. He drew in a breath and let it out slowly, opening the book and smiling faintly at his parents' wedding photo. He turned the pages slowly, studying the pictures she'd found and reading the articles she'd dug up. He'd been looking over it for a little over an hour when he had the familiar sensation that he was being watched. He turned to look over his shoulder, and sure enough, Chloe was leaning against his door frame. "Hi," he said quietly.

"Hi," she said quietly, watching him for a moment longer then pushing herself away from the wall and taking a small step forward, Lois was napping and Chloe had been on her way to the computer room when she walked past his and saw him, "I have a few more smaller articles if you want," she told him then smiled a little, "I just ran out of space."

"Yeah, that'd be...thank you," he murmured, his eyes meeting hers.

Chloe nodded a little and crossed her arms over her chest but smiled softly, "I'll get the folder once Lois wakes up."

He was quiet for a moment, gazing at her. "This means a lot to me," he told her, lifting the scrapbook slightly.

"I'm really glad you liked it," she told him quietly, cocking her head slightly then smirking softly, "you are very hard to shop for."

Oliver grinned at that and shrugged a little in acknowledgment. "I've heard that a few times," he admitted.

"I'm sure you hear that a lot this time of the year." She smiled, watching him.

"This year," he said with a slight nod, rising to his feet. "Did you uh...did you like the bracelet?"

Her chest tightened a little at his words and she made a mental note to always give him something for Christmas from now own, regardless of how things were between them, "I did, and I really liked the necklace too, thank you," she told him, then smiled, "I'd have them on, but it felt kinda silly to wear them with jeans."

"If anyone could pull off the look, Chloe, it'd be you," he said without really thinking about it. He smiled at her. 

Chloe couldn't help but smile, she shook her head and looked away then back at him, "I think I'd rather save it for a special occasion," she told him.

Oliver nodded a little at her admission. "It was a pretty good day," he said softly.

"Yeah," she leaned her side against his desk, "a lot better than we were expecting last night."

He held her gaze. "Maybe that's the key. Keep our expectations low and let ourselves be pleasantly surprised."

Her breath caught at his words and his look, she nodded slightly, "I think that sounds healthier than having your expectations crushed all the time."

He nodded a little, as well, hesitating a moment, then stepping closer to her, holding his arms out. "Merry Christmas."

Chloe hesitated for a moment then smiled nervously, stepping closer too and wrapping her arms around him, "Merry Christmas." She said quietly.

He closed his eyes, hugging her close and resting his chin atop her head for a long moment.

She relaxed in his arms as she rested her cheek on his chest, closing her eyes and tightening her arms around him just slightly.

Oliver exhaled slowly, realizing just how much he'd miss their closeness. Sure, he remembered it and missed it regularly anyway, but now, having her there in his arms reminded him of how much he'd lost, and he wondered if they could ever get back to the way they'd once been. Pain tugged at his heart.


End file.
